Category Archives: Northern Region

The year was 2000, the turn of the century and new possibilities abounded, but not much ever changes among northern Virginia wrestling coaches. When you look at the results, the names of the past, present, and future are all in here. Each one giving back to their school, community and America by passing on what they learned to the next generation.

Names like Chuck Hoskins at his alma mater Annandale, before going to the top at Westfield; Bryan Hazard at his old school, putting his time in before he won three state championships; Roy Hill at his alma mater winning the region championship this year; Scott Brooks from Yorktown, a small school but always near the top; Karl Spinnenweber who produced some of the toughest kids and teams on the planet at Herndon; Harry Van Trees who made Oakton a contender; some Hall of Fame coaches like Paul Labazzetta from W.T. Woodson and Mitch Sutterfield from Fairfax.

The list goes on to other great men and ‘lifers’ like James Mon, Gary Embrey and current coaches, such as, Scott Matheny, Phil Cronin, Jeff Humphries and Todd Reynolds who sacrifice to train kids to be champions in life. But it’s all worth it when you see the wrestlers you trained show up years later to come back and coach. Wrestlers like Paul Bjorlo from this 2000 class, who now coaches at James Madison HS.

Wrestling always comes full circle, so when you get the chance, give back to the sport that helped make you who you are today.

I’d love to hear the stories or any updates to these records. Post your comments on where they are now, whether they be wrestlers or coaches.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Weight

District

Region

State

First Name

Last Name

School

103

L1

1st

6th

Stephen

Barksdale

James Madison

103

L2

2nd

Jon

Stryker

Fairfax

103

P1

3rd

5th

Daniel

Vucci

Lake Braddock

103

P3

4th

Johnny

Tran

Annandale

103

N1

5th

Son

Nguyen

Falls Church

103

P2

6th

David

Gitlin

West Springfield

112

C1

1st

Eric

Amstutz

Oakton

112

P1

2nd

Larry

Oufiero

James Robinson

112

P3

3rd

Payton

Lamb

Lake Braddock

112

P2

4th

Gabe

Resto

Hayfield

112

C2

5th

Mikey

Kecman

Herndon

112

N2

6th

Stephen

Strasburg

Yorktown

119

C1

1st

Jason

Smith

Centreville

119

P1

2nd

Jose

Martinez

Hayfield

119

L1

3rd

6th

David

Friedman

George C. Marshall

119

L2

4th

Nathan

Thomas

W.T. Woodson

119

C4

5th

Aaron

McIlwee

Chantilly

119

C3

6th

Scott

Massie

Oakton

125

P1

1st

4th

Pat

Cronin

West Potomac

125

C1

2nd

6th

Jay

O’Donnell

Oakton

125

L1

3rd

Adam

Thomas

W.T. Woodson

125

L2

4th

Brian

Wilson

R.E. Lee – Spr

125

P3

5th

Mike

Cassidy

Lake Braddock

125

C4

6th

James

Burkart

South Lakes

130

N1

1st

Mike

Strasburg

Yorktown

130

L1

2nd

3rd

Kia

Kianersi

Fairfax

130

C1

3rd

Mark

Moore

Centreville

130

N2

4th

Richard

Portillo

Falls Church

130

P1

5th

Ben

Rogers

Hayfield

130

C3

6th

Tyler

Marquardt

Chantilly

135

P1

1st

1st

Steve

Keleher

Lake Braddock

135

C1

2nd

John

Koch

Centreville

135

N1

3rd

5th

John

Burton

Yorktown

135

P2

4th

Geoff

Meno

Hayfield

135

L2

5th

Quentin

Caruthers

Fairfax

135

C3

6th

Eric

Zakrzewski

Herndon

140

N1

1st

2nd

Will

Carroll

Washington-Lee

140

P2

2nd

Mike

Vachon

James Robinson

140

P1

3rd

Jason

Howard

Hayfield

140

C1

4th

David

Zakrzewski

Herndon

140

N2

5th

Abraham

Alvarenga

Thomas Edison

140

L1

6th

Troy

Coleman

Fairfax

145

P1

1st

Pat

Rooney

Hayfield

145

L1

2nd

6th

Chris

Ward

James Madison

145

N2

3rd

Cedric

Bryant

Thomas Edison

145

C1

4th

Tyson

Leroy

Chantilly

145

N1

5th

Brian

Marlow

Yorktown

145

P3

6th

Nate

Wilson

Lake Braddock

152

C1

1st

3rd

Paul

Bjorlo

South Lakes

152

P4

2nd

Ed

Pickering

West Potomac

152

P2

3rd

5th

Kyle

Burney

Annandale

152

P3

4th

Jared

Hoke

West Springfield

152

C3

5th

Jordan

Gibb

Oakton

152

P1

6th

Nate

Kennedy

Hayfield

160

N1

1st

5th

Peter

Zafros

Yorktown

160

C1

2nd

6th

Chris

Burton

Oakton

160

C2

3rd

Matt

Wood

Centreville

160

P2

4th

Mark

O’Hair

T.C. Williams

160

P1

5th

Mark

Malone

Lake Braddock

160

P3

6th

Ryan

Fassnacht

James Robinson

171

P1

1st

3rd

Tomas

Ovalle

Hayfield

171

C2

2nd

Abdul

Lowe

Herndon

171

N1

3rd

John

Dennis

Mount Vernon

171

P2

4th

Christian

Joun

James Robinson

171

C1

5th

Mike

Wheatley

Oakton

171

P3

6th

Rory

Virostko

West Springfield

189

P1

1st

Brandon

Fields

Annandale

189

P3

2nd

Matt

Fassnacht

James Robinson

189

C1

3rd

Dan

Coghlan

Herndon

189

P2

4th

Pack

Landfair

West Springfield

189

C2

5th

Ian

Reynolds

Centreville

189

N1

6th

Kevin

Keyes

Yorktown

215

N1

1st

1st

Shaun

Herring

Thomas Edison

215

P1

2nd

Dirk

Whitaker

James Robinson

215

C2

3rd

Tom

Coghlan

Herndon

215

P2

4th

Brian

McLain

West Springfield

215

L2

5th

Mike

Tatum

Fairfax

215

P4

6th

Carl

Clyburn

Annandale

HWT

L1

1st

2nd

Chris

Ward

Fairfax

HWT

P1

2nd

3rd

Floyd

Wright

Hayfield

HWT

L2

3rd

5th

Najib

Gerdak

R.E. Lee – Spr

HWT

P3

4th

Robert

Dennis

West Potomac

HWT

C1

5th

Scott

Randolph

South Lakes

HWT

C3

6th

Grant

Maxfield

Thomas Jefferson-S&T

TEAM RESULTS

Weight

District

Region

State

School

Points

Coach

Team

P1

1st

5th

Hayfield

167.5

Roy Hill

Team

2nd

8th

Fairfax

118.5

Mitch Sutterfield

Team

N1

3rd

19th

Yorktown

116

Scott Brooks

Team

C2

4th

28th

Oakton

115.5

Harry Van Trees

Team

5th

46th

James Robinson

112.5

Bryan Hazard

Team

6th

14th

Lake Braddock

106

Chris Moran

Team

C3

7th

41st

Centreville

102

John Sloan

Team

C1

8th

63rd

Herndon

95

Karl Spinnenweber

Team

L1

9th

29th

James Madison

82

Andrew Maoury

Team

10th

36th

Annandale

72.5

Chuck Hoskins

Team

11th

26th

West Potomac

66.5

Rick Seipp

Team

12th

53rd

West Springfield

62

Gary Embrey

Team

13th

22nd

Thomas Edison

54

Scott Matheny

Team

14th

40th

R.E. Lee – Spr

52

Joe Radun

Team

C5

15th

30th

South Lakes

51

Steven Williams

Team

C4

16th

66th

Chantilly

44.5

Michael Mukai

Team

17th

53rd

W.T. Woodson

37

Paul Labazzetta

Team

18th

48th

George C. Marshall

35

Phil Cronin

Team

19th

67th

Falls Church

29.5

Mike Byers

Team

20th

26th

Washington-Lee

29

James Mon

Team

21st

58th

T.C. Williams

26

Alan El Tagi

Team

22nd

53rd

Mount Vernon

20

Todd Reynolds

Team

23rd

Langley

15

Kevin Shea

Team

C6

24th

Thomas Jefferson-S&T

13

Mike Kloehn

Team

25th

Wakefield

4.5

Jeff Humphries

Team

26th

J.E.B. Stuart

3

Chris Strope

Team

27th

McLean

1

Hollis Brown

If you have any updates to how the teams finished in districts, please post or send to jack@jackclark.com

Here’s a look back at the 1962 Northern Virginia tournament and it looks like it was a real barn-burner!

This was the 2nd ever “regional” tournament that qualified wrestlers to the state tournament. The Arlington schools were the dominant teams in the area – Wakefield, Washington-Lee, and Yorktown, but going into this meet upstart Annandale was thought to have a chance to take the crown. In all, there were 13 teams represented.

The championship came down to the last two weight classes of the tournament, 175lbs and HWT. Wakefield had the lead and two W-L wrestlers would both have to pin to capture the team title.

As the article below states, in the short history of the tournament, there had never been even one pin in a championship bout.

Jim Spicer was up first in a head to head matchup against defending champion Tom Lamone of Wakefield. An upset pin in the 2nd period, put the team race in a tie, going into the final match.

W-L’s defending champion Brian O’Donnell faced Tony Bennett (3rd in the state) of James Madison and pinned him in the second period to give W-L the go-ahead point to win the team title.

There are many other great and familiar names that were part of this event. Vic Blue, the legendary Wakefield coach and Sherman Vandevender, Sr. the WL coach, among many others.

Coach Vandevender is part of the Granby dynasty and was a 3x state champ in 52, 53 and 54. He’s also the father of some Robinson standouts in the early 80s including state placer, Sherman Jr. and state champ, Greg Vandevender.

One of the coach’s wrestlers, Larry Grove, produced another two generations of wrestlers at Yorktown.

Paul Wellstone went on to be a U.S. Senator from Minnesota, and the list goes on.

From father to son and generation to generation, wrestling makes champions in life. Let’s keep it going.

Thank you Dick Rickbeil (McLean’s 1st state champ) for the article from the Northern Virginia Sun.

1962 Northern Virginia Tournament Results

Year

Weight

Region

State

First Name

Last Name

School

1962

95

1st

4th

Dick

Bowen

J.E.B. Stuart

1962

95

2nd

Bill

Compton

McLean

1962

95

3rd

Bob

Hetzer

Washington-Lee

1962

95

4th

Frank

Wasuta

Mount Vernon

1962

103

1st

3rd

Paul

Wellstone

Yorktown

1962

103

2nd

Mark

Mugaas

Annandale

1962

103

3rd

4th

Neil

Fink

Wakefield

1962

103

4th

John

Shreves

Fairfax

1962

112

1st

2nd

Dicky

Rickbeil

McLean

1962

112

2nd

3rd

Jeff

Lipsey

Washington-Lee

1962

112

3rd

Donald

Smith

Annandale

1962

112

4th

Bill

Sunda

Yorktown

1962

120

1st

1st

John

Soukey

Mount Vernon

1962

120

2nd

Clayton

Takagi

Wakefield

1962

120

3rd

Don

Ruths

Annandale

1962

120

4th

Jage

Groveton

1962

127

1st

Jerry

Callahan

Falls Church

1962

127

2nd

Toshihiko

Nobe

R.E. Lee – Spr

1962

127

3rd

4th

Dan

Price

Annandale

1962

127

4th

John

Eisenhart

Washington-Lee

1962

133

1st

Gary

Misenheimer

Groveton

1962

133

2nd

Bruce

Blatz

Falls Church

1962

133

3rd

Bud

Reynolds

Yorktown

1962

133

4th

3rd

Tom

Lamanna

Washington-Lee

1962

138

1st

Neil

Smith

Yorktown

1962

138

2nd

Tom

Swan

Annandale

1962

138

3rd

Keith

Douglass

Wakefield

1962

138

4th

Larry

Grove

Washington-Lee

1962

145

1st

1st

Vahan

Khoyan

Washington-Lee

1962

145

2nd

4th

Michael

McKelvie

Mount Vernon

1962

145

3rd

Ron

Eld

J.E.B. Stuart

1962

145

4th

Karl

Veit

Wakefield

1962

154

1st

1st

Jim

Jenkins

Mount Vernon

1962

154

2nd

Robert

Jacobs

Groveton

1962

154

3rd

2nd

Mike

Chapman

Wakefield

1962

154

4th

Jerry

Mullins

Annandale

1962

165

1st

1st

Bill

Darnall

Wakefield

1962

165

2nd

Ronnie

Coburn

Yorktown

1962

165

3rd

2nd

Dan

Jones

Annandale

1962

165

4th

Ron

Tankersley

Fairfax

1962

175

1st

1st

Jim

Spicer

Washington-Lee

1962

175

2nd

Tom

Lamone

Wakefield

1962

175

3rd

2nd

Bob

White

Fairfax

1962

175

4th

Francis

Oxley

J.E.B. Stuart

1962

HWT

1st

Brian

O’Donnell

Washington-Lee

1962

HWT

2nd

3rd

Tony

Bennett

James Madison

1962

HWT

3rd

Steve

Sears

Annandale

1962

HWT

4th

Ned

Garber

Wakefield

Team Placement

Region

School

Points

Coach

1st

Washington-Lee

79

Sherman Vandevender

2nd

Wakefield

78

Vic Blue

3rd

Annandale

67

4th

Yorktown

57

Chuck Harris

5th

Mount Vernon

51

6th

Falls Church

34

Charles Sherwood

7th

Groveton

30

8th

McLean

27

9th

Fairfax

22

10th

J.E.B. Stuart

21

11th

James Madison

17

12th

R.E. Lee – Spr

9

13th

Osbourn

5

If you have updates or history on any of these wrestlers or coaches, please add it in the comments section. I’m particularly looking for the first name of Jage from Groveton High School.